Radio Recap, September 10, 2008

It's time for a RADIO RECAP
"Must Hear TV" on "The Frank DeCaro Show" on Sirius OutQ 109
Wednesdays, 1-2 PM

In news from today's "Must-Hear TV" report...

• In week 2 of season 2, Gossip Girl continues to show signs of improving ratings, and of ruling Monday night -- as least as far as young women are concerned. The show, along with sixth-season lead-out One Tree Hill, powered the CW network this past Monday to its second consecutive win among Women 18-34, Females 12-34 and Female Teens. That represents impressive gains for both shows in these key, advertiser-craved demos. Of course, the shows' real network competition won't show up for battle for a few more weeks now, but with these results, CW is hoping that by then, Gossip will have become a habit.

• NBC-owned USA Network has announced an unusual approach to the upcoming eighth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Lately, the show has exhibited sort of a split personality, with differences in tone depending upon which of its two leading-man-and-lady combos shows up that week. Now, the split is becoming even more formal: the show will now be written by two separate writing teams. One team will tackle writing for the Vincent D'Onofrio/Kathryn Erbe partnership, while the other takes on new cast member, Academy Award and Emmy nominee Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Nicholson. We'll see the results when Criminal Intent returns to USA, on Thursday, November 6 at 10 PM Eastern.

• This year, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is giving the general public a voice in its Emmy Awards Telecast -- sort of. No, we won't be voting on Best Actress in a Comedy (I couldn't decide between Tina Fey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus anyway!) -- but we can weigh in on TV's top 10 comedic and dramatic moments of all time.
  
  Along with Ken Ehrlich Productions and a select group of journalists, The Academy originally selected a list of 40 possible winners; with more than 100,000 votes already cast by the public, the list has been narrowed down to 20, with 10 candidates in each category. According to the Academy's press release, "the list includes many of TV's highest-rated moments, as well of some of its most emotional, funny and dramatic scenes," as varied as The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the entire Cosby family singing a Ray Charles song, hearing the "Good night"s on The Waltons, and the disappearance of the island on Lost.
  
  Voting continues through September 15 at emmys.abc.com, with winners to be announced in a special segment on this year's 60th Primetime Emmy Awards telecast, airing live on ABC on Sunday, September 21 at 8 PM Eastern.

Well that's it for me -- my theme music is playing me out. Tune in next Wednesday for the next installment of...

"Must Hear TV!"

Radio Recap 9/3/08

It's time for a RADIO RECAP
"Must Hear TV" on "The Frank DeCaro Show" on Sirius OutQ 109
Wednesdays, 1-2 PM

In news from today's "Must-Hear TV" report...

• Gossip Girl is a hit! Monday night's season 2 premiere drew the show's Best Ratings EVER in Adults 18-34, Women 18-34, Adults 18-49 and Women 18-49. And the rising tide of Gossip lifed One Tree Hill's boat as well, leading the show to deliver big time ratings. Monday's season 6 premiere outperformed last season’s premiere, and either beat or matched the show's best ratings since the 06-07 season. Of course, all this is just based on one week's worth of results, and the heavy competition is due back on the air soon enough. Stay tuned!

• Speaking of huge hits, due undoubtedly to the promotion the show got when star Mark-Paul Gosselaar appeared on The Frank DeCaro Show, Raising The Bar is a big fat hit. 7.7 million viewers caught the show's Labor Day series premiere, setting the record as ad-supported cable's biggest series launch of all time (!) Some more stats to throw at you:



• Raising The Bar's 5,709,000 households outpaced the 2005 series launch of TNT's The Closer among households (5,259,000) and the 2004 series launch of USA's The 4400 among viewers (7,407,000).


• Raising The Bar supplanted USA's In Plain Sight among viewers (5,253,000); households (3,809,000); adults 18-49 (2,298,000); and adults 25-54 (2,567,000).

Again, time will tell if Steven Bochco's legal drama can stand up to heavier network competition. But for now, all hail the new king of cable!

• In what may not be a great sign for these two series, both Fox's new sitcom Do Not Disturb (premiering on the early side, 9/10) and CBS' sci-fi-ish drama Eleventh Hour (premiering on the late side, 10/9) have decided to skip over their original pilots, and instead air a different episode as their series' first. I haven't heard any scuttlebutt about why these shows are going that route, but I do know that it's often not a good sign -- it means the pilot was deemed not strong enough to open the show with. Of course, some series have re-ordered their episodes, burying weaker ones later in the season, and gone on to become monster hits -- for example, The Golden Girls. It'll be interesting to keep an eye on these shows, and see what happens in hindsight.
  

And you callers asked...

• Marc in VT: Nip/Tuck is returning to FX sometime in 2009 -- but the network has yet to announce a specific date.







• Chris in Dallas: Damages will certainly be back on FX for a second season -- it was a huge hit. It, too, will be sometime in early 2009, although we know not when at this point. But the network is high on the show, and has announced some casting coups for the show's return, including the return of Ted Danson as Arthur Frobisher, and the appearances of more such name actors as Timothy Olyphant and William Hurt.





• Carol in NJ: I'm as curious about True Blood as you are! I haven't seen any of the show, but from the panel HBO presented at the Television Critics' Association, it looks smart and funny -- that's Alan Ball for you!

• Shirley in Houston: Fear not, Ghost Whisperer will be back. True, it will be without my former NJ neighbor Jay Mohr, who has graduated to starring in his own CBS show, the Wednesday night sitcom Gary Unmarried (which I've seen, and which is refreshingly funny.) Ghost Whisperer returns to CBS' Friday lineup for its 4th season on 10/3.

• Talia in MA: It's not your imagination, nor is it your TiVo malfunctioning! Saving Grace is a hit, so it's not off the air -- but it is taking a break. (You can't expect Holly Hunter to stay that messed up for that many weeks straight!) TNT has carved its second season into two halves; the first 7 episodes just finished airing, and the latter 8 are set to air sometime in 2009.

• Steve in NJ: You're right -- Jane Kaczmarek's clerk in Raising the Bar, Charlie (Jonathan Scarfe) is indeed secretly gay. Finally, a new gay character to root for on a high-profile new show! It's been a while. By the way, for the rest of you callers -- like Barb in Allentown and Jason in Dallas -- who called in to ask if the show will get better in future episodes, click here for a review on TVSquad which claims just that.



• Will: Showtime has indeed ordered a 3rd season of Brotherhood -- but hasn't said when in 2009 the episodes will air.









• Barry: I checked tvshowsondvd.com and looked around, and I see no news, current or announcements, of Paradise Falls coming to DVD anytime soon. Sorry!

Well that's it for me -- my theme music is playing me out. Tune in next Wednesday for the next installment of...

"Must Hear TV!"